Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Reform School Candy

Made this one for Candy (Pirate) about 2 1/2 years ago, and as I've mentioned previously, I'm not sure why I don't do more designs like this one. I used an oval gobo, which I use as a term for cropping photos, even though its origination was in cinema. Wikipedia defines it as, "A gobo (or GOBO) derived from "Go Between", "GO BlackOut"
or "Goes Before Optics", originally used on film sets, is a physical
template slotted inside, or placed in front of, a lighting source, used
to control the shape of emitted light." Common gobo's are keyholes, gun sight targeting, submarine periscope views, etc ... In this caption, I simulated the pinhole camera arrangement that Jeff had set up in the dorms.

I wish I could find the original picture (looking at my initial posting on the Haven, Candy supplied the original picture) so I could show what exactly I was eliminating from view. I'm not sure if there were other people in the shot which would've made my story different, or I just liked how I composed the gobo over it. Either way, I was trying to focus on Candy and what she was doing. I didn't need much of the guy in the shot. I didn't want to zoom in any further because the uniform is a big part of the story, at least I think it was. I wonder if I had tried doing a keyhole gobo, if it would have worked.

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Wondering if I should make all my weekend "Dee-briefs" be visible on the main page, that way people wouldn't have to click into it and could see right away if I had updated it during the weekend.. Doesn't look like anyone really paid attention to it after Friday night. Then again, it seemed like the weekends really are dead zones of activity. Guess it could be the whole end-of-summer thing where everyone wants to get in some last minute whatever.

Here is what I put up Sunday morning:

Dee is going to be YOUR muse! For those suffering through writer's block, here is a decent plot-line you can use. I won't mind at all! Guy
catches a special cold or virus, and every time he sneezes, some part
of his body or an attribute changes into the last female he saw/was in
contact with. Could definitely be a multi-panel story with different
body parts shown in pictures until the final resolution. In my version,
I think he'd end up at the doctors and sneeze, turning him into a
really hot nurse!

DISCUSSION QUESTION: As a captioner, how many effects are you willing to use to make a caption? I am not talking about sharpening an image or cropping .. I mean things like compositing, choosing a gobo, or something like changing a hair color. For readers, does it distract you if there is an obvious chop job on the picture? Have you ever seen a caption where an effect like that has made it WAY better?

As for how far, and how many effects I'm willing to do.. The sky's the limit... My only caveat is that it has to add tot he impact of the cap, not distract from it... Unfortunately, that is often a matter of opinion....

I'll do composites, color manips, color "splash", etc... I'll brighten the eyes/lips, change or add makeup, even occasionaly do a true "photomnanipulation", putting someone else's face/head on a different body... With the exception of the color splash/desaturate, i think if it's obvious some work has been done, it pretty much HAS to distract, so I try to be discreet.

Dee-constructing Dee

Admin / Guardian Dee-mon at Rachel's Haven.
Fruit wrangler for Carmen Miranda.
Stealer of Rachel's shoes.
Affectionally known as "The Bat".
Lover of razor sharp wit and the absurd.
Commenter on many other TG blogs.
Connoisseur of Pop Culture.